EDITOR’S NOTE: The following story is the third in a series of articles The Oak Ridger is publishing this week on area and national gun issues. Become a part of the conversation by emailing us at editor@oakridger.com.

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“I hope we can keep these guns,” an older shopper comments to one of the friendly staffers at Frontier Firearms on Gallaher Road.

“It looks like he wants to take them all,” she adds as she walks out the door with her purchases.

Brant Williams, owner of the popular family shooting center and training academy, insists it isn’t “fear” of President Obama and other like-minded politicians that continues to drive gun and ammo sales across the country, but rather it is the public’s “determination” that the government won’t take basic freedoms away.

Since starting his business in 2000, Williams says supply-and-demand spikes such as the one U.S. gun shops are now experiencing have only occurred after 9/11, when President Obama was first elected, when President Obama was re-elected, and after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in December.

“This isn’t about the NRA or ‘gun nuts,’” Williams said. “We’re seeing a lot of people who haven’t felt the need to buy firearms.

“They are concerned about home safety and concerned about protection from government.”

While you might think an increased demand for guns and ammunition would be a boon for businesses such as Frontier Firearms, Williams says demand has become so great that it is becoming harder and harder to meet the area’s demand for weapons and ammo.

For example, he said one distributor would normally have 3,100 different “models” of handguns in stock but currently has no handguns at all — let alone different models from which to choose.

The same is true for ammunition. Williams said he ordered 250,000 rounds of .22 ammo on Christmas Day, but now he’s lucky if his vendor can fill a 2,500-round order.

“It’s .22, it’s 9 mm,” he said. “Any of it is hard to get.”

Because some fear the government could stop the manufacturing of ammunition for their guns, “people are stockpiling ammo, hoarding it,” said Williams, though he noted the government “can’t do that constitutionally.”

His impressive gun shop and those who work in it aside, many of Williams’ customers today visit the 11,500-square foot firearms complex to take advantage of Frontier Firearms’ two indoor ranges and gun training opportunities — specifically Handgun Carry Permit Classes.

Williams says Frontier Firearms continues to offer discounts on its eight-hour handgun carry permit class, which can be attended on a Saturday, a Sunday or split into two sessions.

If you don’t have a gun of your own, then you can rent one.

Female attendance is on the rise. While a 35-member class may have included three women two years ago, handgun carry permit classes today are more equally divided with half of a 35-member class being women.

“Women are more empowered,” Williams said. “They are determined to take care of themselves.

“A firearm is the ultimate equalizer. Regardless of her size, if a woman shoots you then you’re going to be in pain.”

In fact, citing the number of elderly and female victims in East Tennessee, Williams said he’s seeing more older women in their 60s, 70s and 80s attending Frontier Firearms’ handgun carry permit classes — “and a lot of them bring in the big guns.”

When asked for his opinion on the greatest threat to gun ownership today, Williams referenced President Obama using executive power “to circumvent the Constitution” and the demonization of firearms.

He added that politicians in general often pander to anti-firearms groups if they believe it will help them get re-elected.

Conversely, Williams said the greatest satisfaction he gets out of what he does at Frontier Firearms is meeting and greeting families that have never shot before.